Anyone tired of corona yet?

I am definitely glad that I didn’t have any grand dreams or aspirations for the year, show-wise. I picked a convenient time to lay low and focus on other things. Of course, if this whole apocalypse thing could have waited until after the SO had started his new job (oh good, his start date has been delayed and thus now he’s technically unemployed), and after we had already bought the tiny house and rented out our house in the city (my eye is twitching just thinking about the crash of 2008), that would have been ideal. But, at least it waited until after I wasn’t boarding anymore, and when I’m living out on the farm. Definitely mega grateful for that.

I still get to see the horses every day, no matter what. They still have to be fed and turned out, stalls still have to be cleaned, arenas still have to be dragged, water troughs still have to be scrubbed, etc etc. In that way, nothing has changed for me. And as I see friends that are no longer able to go out to their boarding barns to see their horses at all, I feel really lucky. Trying to imagine being stuck in my house in the city and unable to see my horses is enough to drive me bonkers just thinking about it. Who knows what kind of weird hobbies I would have taken up by now if that was the case. Origami, or meditation, or whittling… something like that probably.

But on the farm, life hasn’t really changed much. Except that I’m home more, which is honestly really nice. The care of the horses is a non-negotiable, obviously, a daily thing that isn’t optional and can’t stop. There’s still that elephant in the room though, the question I keep running through my mind. At what point is riding too risky?

Some countries and states have already cut off recreational sports entirely. Not because of the risk of spreading covid while participating, but because of the risk of injury which then puts you in the hospital. When the hospitals are already super strained, ending up there because you fell off a horse seems ridiculously asinine. Because of that, other people have already voluntarily chosen to stop riding.

I completely understand that decision, and I go back and forth with it myself. I sure don’t want to be the asshole using up precious resources because I was selfish and wanted to ride my horse. On the other hand… I won’t lie, I do want to ride my horse. My horse stays soundest when he’s ridden regularly, even just lightly. However, it’s not an out-and-out necessity, and I won’t pretend that it is.

So, while I haven’t stopped riding yet, I have done a few things to modify my regular behavior. 1) I’m not riding as much. 6 days a week has gone down to more like 4 days a week. 2) I’m keeping it simpler. No big jumps, or tricky courses, or road hacks, or long conditioning rides over terrain. I’ve only jumped a couple times, and only a handful of jumps, and with those I set up things that were more likely to cause a run-out (ie skinnies) than a crash – proven to reduce the risk of a fall. Mostly though I’m just doing short hacks or flatwork rides in the arena. Basically, I’m trying to reduce some of the risk. 3) I’m keeping an eye on our local cases and our local ER’s. Right now, our county has 6 cases, and the local ER’s and urgent cares are operating without issue.

Of course, the situation evolves rapidly, so I’m constantly re-evaluating. We’re in weird, new territory that none of us really know the best way to handle, so I think much of it depends on the individual situation and trying to make the best choices you can for yourself day by day. I know there will come a point where local cases start to spike, and I very well may have to shut it down and stop riding altogether. Granted, the closest I’ve come to really injuring myself lately was when I had to climb over the back fence to retrieve one of Presto’s fly boots, or when I whacked the shit out of my head on a stall door because I am a klutz. There’s no way to take all the risk away when I’m at the barn every day, so… I’m just trying to be smarter about it and keep an eye on the world at large, knowing that the situation is ever-evolving.

How is everyone else doing? Still riding, or not? Going to the barn, or not?

Well that was quick. Peyton foaled a little bit late, Daisy foaled a little bit early, so tada – we’ve got two babies only a week apart! Say hello to Oakley WTW.

She has the unique title of being the very first Usandro Tilia Derlenn foal born in the USA! I heard that her French papa is feeling proud. She’s super cute, definitely all spunky filly.

Daisy was sneaky about it, waiting until no one was looking and popping her out around 10am. The only color options were bay dun and grulla – obviously she looks buckskin, which isn’t possible, most likely she’s bay dun (which can end up looking similar) and not grulla. Michelle is sending off some hair to check for sure. Oakley’s got two hind socks, a big star, and a teeeeeny snip.

It will be interesting to see how she grows and develops, being a Paint (solid) x WB pony cross. In my head I’m imagining her being relatively Connemara-esque. Some hardiness/tractability from the Paint and some fancy/jump from the warmblood, plus Connemara-sized (small horse) as well. We shall see! She definitely looks pretty sporty and athletic so far. I have yet to see a Usandro that can’t jump or move, and Daisy is a great mover herself, so it’ll be fun to start seeing what she looks like as she matures.

In a few more weeks we’ll have another Usandro foal, this one out of the sportpony Stormie. That one should be born with springs in its legs for sure.

How are we already halfway through foaling season? Bring on the babies, I’m ready for more! (but really, they can wait until their due dates, we don’t need any of that preemie stuff happening please…)

Not having to spend 1.5hrs per day commuting really has it’s perks. I have more time to do things, and more flexibility in my day, And not being able to go anywhere on the weekends means there’s no choice but to stay home and finish some projects that perhaps aren’t my favorite but needed to get done. I finally got all my stupid jumps painted on Saturday, and on Sunday I spent a few hours doing some arena maintenance (ie pulling up all the stupid weeds that took root a couple months ago and I’ve been unsuccessful at trying to get rid of via dragging).

Rob came out on Friday so I took advantage of the presence of another human and put another ride on Presto. It was his fourth ride total, second ride off the lunge line. For these last two rides I’ve opted to stay up in the courtyard in front of the barn, since it’s a smaller fenced in area. I wanted to make sure we had enough steering before we went back to the dressage arena with it’s low walls. It’s not 100% yet but it’s much improved even just in the past 2 rides, so I think next time we can go to the arena.

We’re doing everything without a groundperson now too. I mount unassisted and we just move off and go to “work”. For, ya know…. all of maybe 15 minutes. Mostly we just walk/trot/halt a few times, make some circles and changes of direction, and then we’re done. That’s all I’m trying to do at this point, and I still want him to feel like this is fun and easy, so better to keep everything short and simple. I just want him to go forward and figure out his balance.

And for such a gawky looking creature, he does feel remarkably well balanced. The courtyard is on a bit of a slope so I thought between that and the circles in the small space he might struggle a bit given his size, but he handles it pretty well. I try to just maintain my own balance and let him figure out his own, which he’s been quick to do. He might not always turn when and where I want him to, but the balance isn’t a problem. We do need to work on his response time to the “go” aids… once he’s going he’s really nicely forward, but getting him going takes a little bit of effort. That’ll be the next thing we work on, once we’re back out in the bigger space. As is typical with him, the whoa works really well. Pretty much just think whoa and you’re stopped. So now we just need to tune it up the other way too. 

For four rides, I’m pretty pleased with where he’s at. I’m mostly happy that it’s all been really easy so far and he’s 0% worried or anxious about anything. He also feels really nice to ride, like… familiar somehow. I don’t know about everyone else, but sometimes I swing a leg over a horse and they just feel weird or foreign or like something doesn’t click right away, especially since I pretty much just ride one horse all the time. But with Presto he’s felt like home the second I swung a leg over, despite being very different from Henry. It feels like I belong there, nothing awkward or strange about it. 

After I was done I had Rob open the gate so I could walk Presto a little ways away out into the more open field area, then turn around and come back to the barn. His first little very mini hack out that was all of 2 minutes. 

He’s becoming more of a real boy by the day. 

I’m about to give up on keeping the damn fly boots on him though. Now he’s taken to tossing them over onto the neighbors property.

He figured out the duct tape, so now he just rips that off in about 10 seconds. This kid, I swear. I used to say that his mother sometimes used her exceptional smarts for evil instead of good, and the apple definitely isn’t falling far from the tree on this one. He is adamant that he does not wear fly boots. So ungrateful. Henry loves his, no more stomping. I think Presto just can’t handle having toys attached to his legs, the temptation is too great.  

Other than riding and doing chores around the farm, I also got a virtual horse-girl happy hour in on Zoom!

Well, horse girls plus Bobby. Except he was the meeting host and thus had the power to put me on mute, which he did every time I insulted him. So basically I spent a lot of time muted. That’s ok, I don’t need sound to let him know how I feel. It was nice to get some horse friend chatting time in, even though there was a dreadful lack of chips and queso at this happy hour compared to most. I did have Ben and Jerry’s though, so not all was lost.

There was also another new baby at WTW over the weekend, which we’ll talk about tomorrow! There’s still lots happening, despite the fact that it may seem like the world has come to a bit of standstill in other ways. Hope everyone else is still surviving okay and managed to fill up their weekend too! 

Yeah I know, two baby posts in one week but is anyone really complaining about foal pictures? Yeah I didn’t think so. I’m pretty psyched to be able to be able to roll back out with a new edition of Foal Friday, starring Remi!

His hobbies include galloping, napping, whinnying at Michelle, and stomping through mud. His greatest talent so far though? His ability to strike a pose. I mean… LOOK AT THIS KID.

He’s practicing for his winner’s photo at Badminton, obviously.

This kid is something else.

If you missed the video of him jumping over the pole the other day then I’m sad for you so here you go.

Happy Friday everyone, courtesy of Remi.

What’s today, Thursday (who can tell anymore)? Still haven’t seen another human since Saturday. If only I could get people from work to stop calling, texting, skyping, and emailing me, life would be complete. Really though, a) I’m glad that our business is considered essential therefore doesn’t have to shutter, b) I can work from home. But, ya know… they could email me less. Just saying.

So far this week aside from working I’ve been able to drag the arena a few times, pull up some weeds, move some jumps to the arena, paint a few more jumps (hey I’ve discovered I hate painting jumps), ride, and record a podcast. Far more productive when I don’t have to spend so much time driving. Quarantine has been… enjoyable.

Also I haven’t worn real pants in over a week. Breeches and leggings only. And by breeches I mean tights, because I’m firmly anti zipper and buttons right now. Might be losing weight, might just be stretching out the elastic, who can tell? I’ve been limiting myself to one Little Debbie a day (I have Star Crunch, Cosmic Brownies, and Swiss Cake Rolls. My only regret is not buying Fudge Rounds too. Can we have a side discussion/fight to the death about what the best Little Debbie is? It’s Fudge Rounds.) and I’ve got enough for at least a couple more weeks at that rate of consumption, so… that’s really all that matters.

While I’m doing pretty well in the snacks and no-pants department, I did make one teeny tiny little bitty slip up yesterday. Itty bitty. Teeny tiny.

See, I don’t know if it was the heat

or if all the people who think sacrificing millions of people to right the economy is ok

combined together just stressed me out to the max, or what.

But I uh… bought a bridle.

SHUT UP MICHELE.

See, what had happened was, I was scrolling innocently through Instagram, as one does. It’s been awesome for comic relief with all these things like the chip challenge and the see a pup share a pup. I’m 100% here for it and loving social media right now.

But ya know, anyway… doo dee doo… there I was scrolling Insta when BAM.

Me:

That is about 10,000 times prettier than the sidepull I ride Henry in. The one I have is too reddish-orange, which is not his color AT ALL. I originally bought it because I wasn’t sure how much I’d really ride him in it and didn’t want to spend much. That was… 6 years ago. And I ride him more in his sidepull than I do in anything else. You know what I’m tired of looking at? That cheap reddish orange bridle.

And then I found a coupon code that put the Dy’on at just over $100, which… um, ok, sure, give me a Dy’on bridle for basically nothing. Twist my arm why don’t ya? And in my defense, this one looks like it might have a little more whoa, so maybe I’ll be able to use it for jumping at home too. His current sidepull isn’t quite enough whoa, but his hackamore even on it’s loosest settings and a leather curb strap is a little bit too much.

In my defense I resisted for like… hours. I mean at least 5 or 6.

Let’s be honest, it was over with as soon as they posted it. A done deal. Fate sealed. Foregone conclusion.

But hey, at least I haven’t eaten all the Little Debbies?